Don't tangle with Len!(and other little stories)

(OH! I Love his Crooked bowtie!!!)

Since I haven't really spoken solely of one of my favourite early recording artists, Len Spencer, lately I wanted to get back into it for this post. 

I had recently learned so much fascinating information from Jack Stanley on Youtube, going back and forth geeking out about all sorts of fascinating things having to to with the early recording business. I told him some new information, and he told me some new information. Here's a great video he put up that got us going on Len Spencer(make sure you read the comments!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msly7uwfR6U

The one thing that really intrigued me about what he said was the fact that Spencer had a scar on his face from a knife fight. That was certainly something that got me exceedingly curious. So later I was told that is came from a fight he had in his youth, which was not the least bit surprising to me, as I'm sure he got into things like that often, even when he was older. I immediately looked through the old pictures I have of Spencer on my computer and in my geeky record books and couldn't pin down exactly where it was on his face. I have a feeling the picture above can give you a little hint if you look at it closely...

It was told that Ada Jones recalled the small thing later in her life in an interview, that was from most likely the late-teen's or early 20's(well, after Spencer croaked obviously). That was among the things she remembered about him? Apparently so. He was pretty beat-up and rugged when she started recording with him anyhow, so she only saw him in his later years(oh! if only Fred Hylands had lived longer!!).

We all know Spencer was a towering figure over his friends(even the freakish Fred Hylands!), at 6 foot 4 or 5, he looked intimidating compared to most of his fellow recording stars. He looked especially so after 1899, as that was when he got into the odd fad of bringing back the old ancient Greek and Roman physique(hence Eugene Sandow). That was when he looked especially menacing. That powerful and toned physique paired with his height, pale ivory skin, wide somewhat terrifying eyes, and graying black hair just made him all the more daunting.

(a piece of my art giving a literal representation of Spencer compared in height and overall size to Dan W. Quinn, around 1905-06)
Also a picture of him from c.1902:

Even with those eccentric looks of his, he was still the same old witty Len that he was back in the mid and late 1890's. He still had that fun and young personality he always had. By 1906, many of his friends from back in the late-90's had disappeared from recording, or were just about to, like Dan Quinn(pictured above). He hadn't all his old friends to go out and drink with like he used to, but he still had others by this time, as he was a renown stage owner and booking agent by this time, managing a business and whatnot. His daughters spoke of him later as a man who got more intimidating as he aged, and that he always towered over his family, save for his brother Henry(who was an inch or two shorter). He wasn't one to tangle with, whether when he was young or older, he was a freaky figure with an extremely sharp mind and observant eyes. This is where most of his sketched and monologues come from, as they were sometimes things that he went through himself, or he saw his friends or others get into. Such as this lovely one from 1901 that I just cannot get enough of:

http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000000553/Pre-matrix_B-1102-The_stuttering_monolougist

Very Len Spencer indeed. 

This is one of my favourite Len Spencer records, as the violin compliments his  somewhat scratchy and peculiar voice. Also by the way that he shows off many shades of his voice and emotions, something that doesn't come out nearly as much as it does on this one. I also love those high-pitched moans he does!(such as that one at 0:37 to 0:41)

Many of his sketches were basically the same, but they were pretty funny and can be imagined well(if you know what they look like reasonably well) when you hear them, whether it be on the stage, or in the actual recording studio. 

This one is always fun:

http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/200004972/B-3384-Flannigans_night_off

Ada Jones is especially good on this one. Spencer's all slow and steady with his words, groans, and sound effects ,as it's his creation, and he gets it perfect on this take. He did it earlier with Steve Porter, but that wasn't nearly as much fun. The record engineers complained about Porter doing all of the female voices for so many takes, so when Spencer brought in Ada Jones once again, they did it together and the record boys were just raving over how great it was.

The funny thing about this sketch is that I have the feeling that Spencer had this very situation come upon him before(as that was the case with the songs he wrote). Other than the thing at the end. It would not be surprising if that was the case. He would get home from recording and such drunk just as his character would be in the sketch. I just wish more of his hundreds of songs had survived the years, some of them must have been real funny ones, as what's left can prove that. 

I hope you enjoyed this! 

Conservative vs. real Rag-Time on records

Rag-Time is just Rag-Time to most people who hear it. But back when it was new, it was a questionable fad that the older folks just found morally wrong. When it came into fashion in 1896 and 1897, there were the conservative Rag-Time pianists, and then there were the real Rag performers who were rightfully called Rag-Timers. The conservative Rag performers were the classically trained east coast natives. They were taught all of those classic pieces that we know now in the music world just like those of Mozart and Beethoven. The true earliest Rag-Timers were the ones who came from anywhere in the Mid West and were already starting to play the earliest forms of Rag-Time in the late 1880's and even the early 1890's. One of the few who actually wrote this so called "Proto-Ragtime" intentionally for a few years was Monroe Rosenfeld:

Other than being too intelligent for his own good, Rosenfeld wrote a little over a handful of "Walk-Arounds" and "Comic Dances" which were basically two early names for a Cake-Walk. He began writing these "Ethiopian" themed slightly syncopated pieces around 1887, the year after the famous "Patrol Comique" was written by Thomas Hindley. Rosenfeld had come from a well-off family in Virginia, and he had seen all the minstrel performers he needed to imitate and almost mock what they were doing with these old raucous songs. This is where his "Virginia Skedaddle" comes from:

It can be heard here by the Columbia orchestra in 1901(with Fred Hylands on the piano):
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/5000/5225/cusb-cyl5225d.mp3
Before "The Virginia Skedaddle", there was the great old favourite "Darkie's Dream" written by G. L. Lansing in 1889:

This great early syncopated tune was recorded countless times on records from 1891 onward. Fred Van Eps is mostly known for recording this, but his old rival Vess Ossman recorded it for the horns years before Van Eps did, here's Ossman's(with Fred Hylands being as loud and fun as could be on that piano!) from 1898:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/5000/5286/cusb-cyl5286d.mp3
Now more onto the records themselves. The brown wax rarity above is an example of how early Rag-Time would have been played, other than looking through the written music of the early 1890's. This record of "The Darkie's Dream" by Vess Ossman and Fred Hylands represents how the pre-Ragtime of the late 1880's and early 1890's would actually have been played. As Hylands was also one of these early "Rag" performers, as he would have been called in 1894 to 1896. Hylands was one of the "Rag" performers in Chicago, starting the year of the 1893 world's fair. The wonderful and fun music that would become "Rag-Time" spread in the area, with the help of performers like Krell's Band(i.e. William H. Krell) and also Silas Leachman, this didn't take long to infect the somewhat shiftless 21-22 year old Fred Hylands. 

Most of the performers we heard playing Rag-Time in its heyday on these old records are what I would call "conservative" Rag performers, as they do not take too much syncopated liberty with the music, whether the way it's written was that way, or it was just their old nature. Here are some examples of more "Conservative" Rag-Time on records:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/6000/6793/cusb-cyl6793d.mp3
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/8000/8449/cusb-cyl8449d.mp3
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/11000/11728/cusb-cyl11728d.mp3
(the pianist on this one is actually George Schweinfest!)
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/4000/4879/cusb-cyl4879d.mp3
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/8000/8798/cusb-cyl8798d.mp3
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/9000/9158/cusb-cyl9158d.mp3
Yes, I know that last one was actually "Panama Rag" and it an authentic Rag-Time piece, but they don't really play it at the tempo and it's still a little bit stiff if you listen closely. The musicians in the Edison band were all local performers and in symphonies. As their tuba player Fred Geib was in a local symphony and was renown in the area around New Jersey. 
Now for the real Ragged pieces on early records:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/8000/8799/cusb-cyl8799d.mp3
(With Hylands on piano)
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/8000/8436/cusb-cyl8436d.mp3
(Also with Hylands on piano)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvNiWY1Cj3c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6TvJab02mY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f44kaFHCPQI
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/5000/5275/cusb-cyl5275d.mp3
https://ia802503.us.archive.org/33/items/WillFDenny/WillFDenny-AintDataShame.mp3
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/2000/2649/cusb-cyl2649d.mp3


Rag-Time was heard much more on these early records than most would think, even to some records collectors it can be surprising, and it wouldn't have been so without those great and largely unknown pianists, it would not have been preserved on the records. They can sometime not be heard very well, due to the terribly penetrating singers. But they were there and worked far more than any of the well-known singers ever did in their whole recording careers.

I hope you enjoyed this! 

Identifying Pianists and etc.

We record geeks know these three pianists. We may not all be able to identify them upon hearing a different record, but we've all heard them before. The few who can identify their styles can hear them do certain things, and hear how they play certain things, and even specific accompaniments. 

I hate to say it, but the beloved Frank P. Banta we all know was still a little bit of a stiff when it came to Rag-Time. It can be heard in his playing, he's not as loose and open as Hylands was in playing Rag-Time, and just general music on the records. Here is a fantastic example of Banta's Rah-Time style:

*skip to 3:20 for the music to actually begin, the guy rambles on about the machine and etc.*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=groIZgk0EJU

This was recorded the year that Banta died, 1903. 

Notice! Hear how Banta plays those syncopated patterns, they aren't entirely loose and free, they still sound very light and jumpy like the classical pieces he would have been taught in his youth. It's a very slight thing to notice really, but it can be heard if you listen closely.What I'm trying to say is:

Banta was not a saloon pianist.

Banta was a pianist who was trained little, much like Hylands, but the amount that he was trained, he was taught all the usual things that a child would have been taught in the late-Victorian era. This repertoire would have consisted of mostly master works of the great classical and romantic composers, and also some hymns here and there. Banta was a better overall pianist than Hylands though. Technique and stylistically, Banta was the most superior of all the early record accompanists. He was easily balanced, never too loud, played flawlessly (almost)all the time, didn't drink too much in the studio, and a very cooperative musician. He was also a mostly natural pianist(not nearly as much as Hylands though...). Banta did have a good feel on the piano when it came to anything he played, as he never played too fast for his hands to handle, and played his quick trills in the upper register as can be heard on pretty much every record he's on. 
Here is the one piano solo that his son Frank E. Banta spoke of years later:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/6000/6475/cusb-cyl6475d.mp3
*Sorry it's so messy, but you can still hear all the things I was talking about*
For an interesting comparison, here's a re-recording of it by Banta's fellow Edison pianist Albert Benzler in 1905:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/2000/2949/cusb-cyl2949d.mp3
*sigh* it's not the same without Banta...
especially at the section beginning at 1:20. Banta played that part almost in Rag-Time, his version is much more free and painted with emotion. 
Here's two pictures of  Benzler from 1900:

Benzler was actually a legitimate pianist, so Rag-Time wasn't something he could do very well. This  is easily mirrored in his remake of Banta's extraordinary piano solo. He tried, but no one could get his style and feel. He had his own style that was completely unique and mostly natural. 

Hylands' playing and style was a mix of too many things to put in one. It started with him somehow coming to find the wonder in playing the piano as early as age 7. He just blossomed from there, and his family noticed how extremely talented and natural he was on the piano by age 12, so then came the traveling. He traveled around the mid west area with his also talented sister until he was about 17. When he was fifteen, he was already writing shows and managing them with great ease. Also by this time, his father opened up a saloon/ grocery store. This is where Fred got his talents up on the piano, playing the predecessors to Rag-Time and hearing other wandering Indiana pianists. This is why Hylands' playing sounds so natural and free, everything he plays, not just his Rag-Time. He could play very pretty and sweet, but then when he could, he could be a riot playing out on a Cake-Walk behind one of those great singers. He's on a whole lot more records than most record collectors would think. He can't just be heard on Columbia's, he's also on Zon-O-Phone's, some Victors, and even can be heard on Leeds records later. Hylands' style was slightly reminiscent of Mike Bernard's and even Ben Harney's, only because he had to wheel them around in the theater business and vaudeville performing, so he must have tried at imitating them well, just like the mysterious Burt Green. Here's a fun one by Bernard in 1913:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWZMqNf15ws
One thing that can really be heard in Bernard's playing is the inspiration from Ben Harney, so this inspiration can also be heard in Hylands' playing as well. 
Hear some unusual and unexpected Rag-Time on this slow and pretty waltz song by Hylands:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/8000/8799/cusb-cyl8799d.mp3
He plays more Rag-Time than a person would expect on this one, as he slips it in here and there and even throws in some of those trills he was so good at, and this was recorded in 1898! Hear the ending to really catch the Ragged playing. 
But Victor's are where the ears really need to be set up on the horns to hear the playing styles. It really varied at Victor, it was either Banta or Hylands primarily. 
Here's a few with Banta:http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000000875/Pre-matrix_B-1388-Nobodys_looking_but_the_owl_and_moon

http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000000540/Pre-matrix_B-1090-Not_by_a_dam_side

http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000000581/Pre-matrix_B-1128-Go_way_back_and_sit_down

Here's some with Hylands: 
http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000000582/Pre-matrix_B-1129-Quit_that_tickling_me
(amazing accompaniment Hylands!)
http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000000978/Pre-matrix_B-1461-Melancholy_Mose

I hope you enjoyed this! Keep on digging through them records for Hylands piano accompaniments!

Challenging the old note-takers and scholars

The first thing on this gets me wondering.

One thing that I do quite a heap on this blog is challenge traditional information about these old records. Why I do this is because I want things that have remained unknown and lost for just over a century to be filled in with the rightful accreditation's. These small but also important things cannot be forgotten. We cannot just read all of the good stuff about these wonderful people, but they were normal beings of their day, exhibiting all of the things that were customs in their day. Even the most peaceful and quiet ones. 

For example, I am very open about saying Hylands was an alcoholic. Why so? HE DIED AT 41! What more needs to be said? But that's just the "dirt" part of what I find, what I really mean by defying the traditional information is saying that Hylands in the pianist on many records rather than the traditionally thought Frank P. Banta. That is going against the scholars, even the most respected ones of all, Jim Walsh. I love Walsh's writing, but some things here and there are not written correctly or aren't the most accurate. The whole pianist mystery is a real brick wall for most collectors. Most of them still think it's Frank P. Banta(as said in the picture from the back of a record sleeve above), even a few little progressive ones would say "C. H. H. Booth", which is sometimes plausible, but not as often as many of the "odd collectors" would think. On this blog, we all know those pianists very well:

The most common guess, and the traditionally known pianist to most record collectors, Frank P. Banta

They all know Banta because the few old-timer recording artists who lived beyond the 1920's often spoke highly of Banta(even though they probably at least mentioned Hylands at some point when they were interviewed).Banta was just mentioned more often by the recording artists themselves. Dan W. Quinn was one of them, and Arthur Collins may have been another. Most of his lasting fame among the record geeks is due to his very popular son, Frank Edgar Banta, who became a much more popular pianist behind Fred Van Eps and others in the 1920's. 

The more "progressive" and educated record geeks turn to Christopher Henry Hudson Booth(C. H. H. Booth as often called when he was listed those few times). Booth was a more recent discovery to the record collectors, but since he was listed more often in the old Victor ledgers, the geeks immediately found him as the other pianist who rotated in and out with Banta, the collectors also thought this was so for Columbia, Zon-O-Phone, and even Leeds. This was found not to be true much later however. C. H. H. Booth did record piano solos and this is why he is becoming a more identified pianist on many of these old records. 

If you're a real oddity and geek of these records, if you have ever dug through the 1898 issues of The Phonoscope you will have heard of him.

This sweet-faced fat man is Frederick Hylands, Columbia's star pianist.

He is the most unknown of the pianists who raided the record studios with their playing, and is a very recent discovery in the world of early record collecting. VERY few record collectors and enthusiasts are aware of him. But surprisingly, he hasn't been completely forgotten since his untimely death in 1913. He was believed to have been re-discovered back in the 1990's. Somewhere on the internet, a blogger spoke quietly of Fred Hylands, saying that he was Columbia's pianist, who was later ridiculed on the stage for his still movement in his musicals and his size. His identification however went vacant and faded away for two decades, as the record geeks had not gone back through issues of The Phonoscope ,which many have, but haven't really noticed the significance of these things here, if they ever happened to stumble upon them:

(September 1898 issue)

(Also September 1898 issue)

How could a record geek not notice these clearly written pieces of evidence! How!

Clearly, by as early as September, 1898 Hylands was finding working there at Columbia a real tiring and painful job, which it certainly was. Hylands can be found as early as the March, 1898 issue of The Phonoscope, but this doesn't mean that they hired him then, he can be heard stylistically in late-1897 as well. Just after Columbia expanded out to Paris(which was about August or September 1897), they hired the 25-year-old Hylands on their staff as pianist, then replacing George Schweinfest. 

Banta held Edison's piano chair from late-1896 to the week that he died, and he also was one of Victor's pianists from its beginning in 1900 to 1903. Booth is a mystery still, even if more record collectors are beginning to identify him on records. The way to identify them is to listen to a Columbia brown wax cylinder from 1898, and Edison brown wax from 1898, and then a Victor monarch from 1901, then you can get and idea of piano styles, techniques, and feels. 

Here is what I mean:

Columbia(two of them for better proof):http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/8000/8436/cusb-cyl8436d.mp3

https://ia802606.us.archive.org/24/items/nobodyKnowsTheUploadIveSeen/01TheLaughingSong.mp3

Edison:(two of them again):http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/5000/5271/cusb-cyl5271d.mp3

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/2000/2649/cusb-cyl2649d.mp3

Victor: http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000000904/Pre-matrix_B-1412-We_wont_go_home_until_morning

I hope you enjoyed this! 

Too Fast! Too slow!

Many records of these old early days are wonderful to listen to, as it's a little window into the 1890's and 1900's, and it's like nothing else out there. But being a very meticulous and particular ear player, I get extremely frustrated with record speeds. They are more often than not played too fast or too slow. Even if the original key of the song is a half step off of the transfer! It can get really maddening sometimes. When it's particularly obvious is when it's the worst, like if you really know what the singer sounds like, and it doesn't sound right whatsoever on the transfer is what I mean by this. This has been the case for most record collectors, as the ones who truly get the record speeds right are the musicians who collect old records, and who really listen to the music, and not always paying full attention to the singers, but the accompaniment(EHM! the pianist fer damn sake!). The musician record collectors are EXTREMELY  rare however. I am one, but it's not like it's a common thing. The collectors with the best ears have the best transfer's out there of their records. Here are a few examples of records played either too fast or too slow, and it's a pity they haven't been adjusted. 

Here is the first one, which is a really fun old song by Will F. Denny from 1899(even if the guy who posted the video says 1897, that song was not written in 1897!). Here you go, from 1899:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMmWiUdcjxw

Any ideas on the pianist? I am truly stuck with this one. Only because I hear speckled trills of Banta, but I hear the power and might of Hylands. 

This cylinder is played WAY TOO SLOW! The key it's played in here is D flat! Hear how SLOW  the piano playing is and the singing is! This drives me crazy whenever I hear this fascinating cylinder. The piano playing is fascinating nonetheless, but it would be better if the record was played at a much faster speed. If you're a music geek, hear the fifths in the left hand on the piano!!

This next one is by George Schweinfest:

playing his trusty piccolo with Fred Hylands(obviously drunk) playing the piano accompaniment. Here you go, with a shaky record speed from c.1898:

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/9000/9154/cusb-cyl9154d.mp3

The wavy record speed drives me absolutely mad! It's staying around A and B flat, and it can't seem to get itself together, and not only that, the record speed to start with is not correct, it's too fast. The original key this was meant to be in was B Flat to E flat. 

This next brown cylinder is by John Yorke Atlee in 1898, once again with Fred Hylands:

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/5000/5344/cusb-cyl5344d.mp3

This cylinder would only take a few small pitch adjustments and it would sound absolutely wonderful! The key on the cylinder is B natural! The original key, heard here on this really fun piano roll:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcgCx2G5eco

A half step off! Damn it! It would sound wonderful in the original key on the transfer.

This next one is a pretty messy cylinder, but it's still very pleasant, minus the fact that it was played just a little too slow.This one is by:

J. W. Myers, and Freddy Hylands, recorded in 1901:

(once again, beware of how messy this cylinder is, but it's still good!)

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/6000/6821/cusb-cyl6821d.mp3

It's played JUST  a bit too slow. It's very slight how off it is. The key of this one is D Flat, and Hylands does some really pretty things on this, almost seeming out of character for him. 

This next one is a Dan W. Quinn number

which was recorded in 1903 for Columbia, with you guessed it!

Fred Hylands! 

So this one is another one of those cylinders whose speed is all over the place and it's confusing which key it's really in. It hovers around D and D flat, here you go(with two different takes!):

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/4000/4719/cusb-cyl4719d.mp3

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/8000/8230/cusb-cyl8230d.mp3

Speaking of two different takes of this, listen to how Hylands' playing is different, and how it's a little less clean on one of them than the other. This is exactly what I mean by Hylands taking in ore of his drinks as the takes came along. How that man loved his drinks...

Speaking also of Dan Quinn, I just ordered that new CD that those great people over at Archeophone put out to-day! I'm so anxious to get it! I can't wait to read all of those great liner notes and hear those great Columbia's from 1897 and 1898 with Hylands beating the piano behind Quinn! I'll tell you all when I get it.

I hope you enjoyed this! 

Freddy the musical moke (heh, like "Smoky Mokes")

How that was true Fred.

Fred Hylands(said what he was above) could never have expected that working for Columbia was such a hard job. As he was only a local performer and music director when they found him. He must have been some music director, as he had Mike Bernard and Ben Harney within his reach, to control and slip the suggestions in their mail(to criticize them that is).When Hylands moved to the east coast in 1896, he immediately go back into performing and all of that, as he was not doing so much the time that he was in Chicago. He was performing occasionally, but not too much. When his sister got married in 1893, she moved out, at 18, she was the perfect age for it. Fred on the other hand, was not going out and doing much, mostly laying around, going out and drinking, and playing at clubs and saloons occasionally. His dad must have become slightly aggravated by this. And when his mother died in 1893, not long after Etta(his sister) ran off and married this guy, it was just Fred and Charles around at home. After two years of free-spirited Fred's antics, he finally married, but the girl was not to the best of his father's approval, as she was also a performer to his likeness. They married in early September of 1895, and as the new years came upon them, they moved out to the east coast, where Fred could finally get more work again, and actually get out more. His father followed them on their move, as he had nowhere else to go otherwise. Once they got out there, Fred was immediately hired for several companies and theaters, which was great for them in every way, and he was out performing in various popular venues by mid-1896. He was getting into the small crowd of "Rag" performers that were blossoming in their own "in-crowd" of pianists. Among these queer early "Rag" men were Ben Harney, Mike Bernard, and even Burt Green. When he became Pastor's music man in 1897, he had to deal with all three of those boys, and even tried his hand at cutting contests against them. he was older than them, but they were outraged at the fact that a somewhat uncivilized Indiana hick was ruling over them.

He was also playing their music. But he was playing their music in ways to make it funny, and entertaining in ways that the boys who created it couldn't have thought of. He had as much experience in Rag-Time as it's so-called creator, Ben Harney, so that sparked a little bit of permanent competition between the two, especially when Hylands managed the theater in which Harney was employed. He didn't do too much in performing, as his job at the managing desk was much more sedentary than going around and touring. He did not want to go and do that yet. That took at least until after Columbia dropped him in 1905.  Not going around and doing much but yelling at performers and playing piano is why he was at about 250 pounds by 1898. That weight of his did not change until he started to get ill more often and when he started touring around with Marie(his wife). 

Columbia was not much better, as that was almost all of what he was doing, lying around, drinking, and playing piano. But he loved it. Even if he complained about it so early on, he still loved working there. He was perfectly content on taking George Schweinfest's place at their piano. He still went out and did shows here and there while at Columbia, as did Marie, but they were separate for the most part, the traveling together ordeal didn't come till after Columbia. After the inspiration and madness working at Columbia, he had the slight yearning to tour again, and gain back the same sort of renown he had in his youth. So that's exactly what he did with writing his musicals and directing all sorts of other ones. But Columbia left him kind of "run-down" if you know what I'm getting at, so from there on(1904 onward) his sustaining good health went dramatically downhill until his death in 1913. It was only nine more years, but it was a wild few more years for him, he did manage to slim out a noticeable amount by 1912 and 1913, but that may be due to the fact that he was out sick quite often between 1906 and 1912 which further destroyed his health. So when he died, it was really a mix of everything he did that killed him, but if he had not worked at Columbia, he would have added at least 10 more years to his life, to a more normal age for these performers(the median age for these performers and recording artists is 56, I did the math recently).

To close off, here is a fun record with Hylands on piano from 1899 with J. W Myers, featuring a great popular piece by Leslie Stuart (i.e. Floradora)

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/10000/10590/cusb-cyl10590d.mp3

(that awkward pause at the announcement! Hilarious Mr. Myers!)

I hope you enjoyed this! 

Several Versions of "Turkey in the Straw"

Billy Golden is believed to be one of the first to introduce "Turkey in the Straw", starting around 1875. 

We've all heard the old favourite "Turkey in the Straw", but how many of you have heard it played in Rag-Time? Golden recorded this tune more than any other of the popular artists of the 1890's. So from how popular the song was, it was recorded by a variety of these artists, and sung in several different keys. I have heard it played in F, C, A, E flat, A Flat,B flat and even B major. It's really interesting for some reason. To get to the versions, here is Billy Golden's famous specialty(with Fred Hylands playing his usual Rag-Time) from about 1898:

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/9000/9322/cusb-cyl9322d.mp3

This record is a wonderful example of how early Rag-Time was played, and how it was sung as well, as Hylands and Golden bonded together on records almost as perfectly as Hylands and Spencer. I still cannot get over that ending! How does he do it! Hylands was just inprovising! HOW? Amazing. 

This version was played in A major, to check it off the key list. 

Here is the next version, also by Golden with Hylands, but from quite a few years later. This record was played too slow in the transfer, but it's still fun to listen to, because this is one of the few recordings of Hylands where you cam really pull apart the sections and really listen to what he's playing behind Golden. Here you go, from 1903:

(sorry, it gets stuck in a groove for a moment at the end!)

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/9000/9323/cusb-cyl9323d.mp3

Hylands plays in B flat on this one,even though if the record was played at the correct speed, it would probably be in the same key as the last one. It's still Hylands, so the key would be the same. 

This next one is also Billy Golden, but it's on an Edison Cylinder this time, so you know what that means, the pianist is:

Frank P. Banta! 

Banta's playing this in a very fun and inventive way, here you go, from about 1898:

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/5000/5271/cusb-cyl5271d.mp3

Banta's playing was so sleek and quick. It's really great in so many ways, but it's not nearly as broken and exciting as Hylands' playing. 

Here is the next one, this time it's Silas Leachman and Hylands or Banta(not sure who to lean more toward on this one...) on a Victor from 1901:

http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/100002503/Pre-matrix_B-3360-Turkey_in_de_straw

Notice! See how different the lyrics are on this one. Leachman probably heard someone else record it(i.e. Billy Golden).This one is played in F, which is odd, because I did not expect to hear Leachman sing this in F. This record really sounds similar to this record by Billy Golden somehow:

https://ia801405.us.archive.org/6/items/BillyGolden/BillyGolden-UncleJeffersonCoonSong.mp3

I cannot get over those runs in the left hand!!!

Which is it? Banta or Hylands? 

It's so hard to tell. The piano accompaniment is absolutely wonderful on Golden's "Uncle Jefferson", but I'm really unsure about who it is, I almost have no comment on how complicated the answer to the "who's the pianist?" question is on this one. It's still a great record nonetheless, and it IS early recorded Rag-Time as well, even if the old title would suggest to some that it isn't, you'd just have to listen to find out why it's Ragged. 

I hope you enjoyed this! 

Ben Harney's best on records(and some Silas Leachman!)

Us Rag-Time geeks have certainly run across Ban Harney before. 

Harney's early Rag-Time tunes have always been a favourite for record and Rag-Time geeks alike, as they were reasonably well recorded from their publication to as late as 10 years after it was popular. Two names who recorded Harney's best were Silas Lechman:

and Len Spencer:

Harney must have come up to Spencer personally about it(as did many of the famous composers, even Monroe Rosenfeld!) and spoke with him about it very highly. He wouldn't have had an idea of where to find Leachman though, as he was rarely in New York, and when he was, it was for very short periods of time, as they were reserved especially for recording, and maybe performing here and there. Leachman was a very well renowned "coon shouter" just like Harney, and even if Leachman never really heard Harney do his "thing" that he was so good at, he still replicated it very well. Spencer still holds the prize for imitating Harney's singing however. Spencer matches up with the descriptions of Harney's singing better than any other of the ones who recorded his songs. Here is the famous Harney song that Spencer recorded on rare Lambert no. 989 around 1901:

https://ia600506.us.archive.org/5/items/LenSpencer/LenSpencer-YouveBeenaGoodOldWagonbutYouDoneBrokeDownCoonSong.mp3

This record has often been a default for Rag-Time researchers in finding what Rag-Time really sounded like, but what they aren't considering is that the way that Spencer sings it, is that is is just like how Ben Harney would sing it. Spencer certainly heard Harney back in the mid or late 1890's, and recorded "Good Old Wagon'' back in 1897(with Hylands on piano) also in 1899 on Berliner. This Lambert cylinder above may be one with a rare occurrence of Hylands on the piano. As many of the thing he does on the piano sounds like Hylands, and the overall feel on the piano sounds like Hylands as well, if any of you can get any ideas on it, do tell me! The wonderful pianist on this famous record shall not remain anonymous for another 110 years! 

Another thing to note about Spencer hearing Harney do his whole schtick back in the mid-90's, is that Hylands did the same. Hylands ran the damn theatre that Harney and Mike Bernard were in the pit at! What more needs to be said? It's pretty obvious now where all three of these pianist stole ideas from each other. Hylands is also a good example of how early Mike Bernard would have sounded, also Ben Harney's playing, as the pieces that he wrote were made not nearly a complicated and as syncopated as he would have played them(well, so were Hylands' and Bernard's). Harney's famous blues-like song:

Was recorded countless times by many artists in the late 1890's and 1900's. This song was even recorded by the rare-to-hear Press Eldridge in 1898! But the one who really got it right was not only Len Spencer and Hylands around 1897, but Silas Leachman. Leachman could really get the feel right because he was also from Kentucky like Harney, so it can be assumed that he got the dialect right, and many more things about it. Here you go from 1901:

http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/100002498/Pre-matrix_B-3355-Mr._Johnson_turn_me_loose

(Phenomenal piano playing! Oh my god!)

The piano on this one really tops it off. 

It's VERY hard to guess who the pianist is on this one, it's either Hylands or Banta like usual, but it's extremely hard to tell. It does have some more Banta in it though. 

For a comparison, here is another record with Rag-Time all over it, recorded on the same day:

https://ia800306.us.archive.org/17/items/SilasLeachman/SilasLeachman-MrJohnsonDontGetGay.mp3

Even after listening to these two, I'm still stumped. 

Leachman's "Mister Johnson Turn me loose" is absolutely a Rag-Time masterpiece on record. There is not a thing wrong with any thing on it, the piano playing is perfect, and Leachman's singing is spot on to Harney's desired style. 

Thinking of Leachman, he is always a desired favourite of record collectors. His records are uncommon, all fun and exciting, and he improvised better than any of the earliest recording artists. He was certainly the most creative as well. He was the definition of a musical genius. It was said that he could play back an entire song after just hearing through only once, and could replicate almost exactly, and add even more to it. He learned most of his material from other records by the great comic song singers, such as Len Spencer, Dan Quinn, George Gaskin, and later Arthur Collins. As I have explained before, Leachman made thousands of brown wax cylinders at home in the mid-1890's by the round, and sold them off to the Chicago talking machine company, that was how he got all his money and success in the business. As I have also said, only about twenty or so of his thousands of cylinders exist to-day. Here is an amazing surviving cylinder from 1892:

https://ia800306.us.archive.org/17/items/SilasLeachman/SilasLeachman-DaddyWouldntBuyMeaBowWow.mp3

He must have heard another performer do this one, and created his own version by doing this. He improvises and makes up many of the lyrics here, and he would mumble words he sometimes didn't know or didn't remember. as this can be heard on his very unusual record of "My Maid of Hindoostan" from 1902, which i wish I could share with you, but it is only in a collection of a friend of mine. But he played the Victor monarch for me and I was amazed at what I heard. Amazed and felt kind of sorry for Leachman, as he completely forgets the words of one of the choruses and kinds of mumbles it, and it's completely audible! Amazing to think that they issued the record. 

I hope you enjoyed this! 

Hylands and Spencer the talent scouts

We've all heard of this odd crew before. Three of them can be recognized.

You got it! It's the front line-up of Hylands, Spencer and Yeager! Well, I put Roger Harding in the mix instead of Harry Yeager. 

Now this crew we all know were a small publishing firm from 1899 to 1900, and it had many of our favourite brown wax cylinder artists involved. Now here is the list of everyone in the top picture left to right:

Roger Harding, Harry Yeager, Hylands, Burt Green, and Len Spencer

This was the main group who came in and ran the firm daily, as half of all the people in the firm were everyday recording artists(such as Len Spencer and Hylands himself). This crew of about seven people ran this firm for the short but reasonably successful run, and found many performers that many of us record and even Rag-Time geeks would recognize upon just seeing their names. Some of these pieces of sheet music are ones that we can only hear of and never see, as many of them do not exist to-day(but which ones I am unsure of).

Here is one from April of 1899:

what's unfortunate about the fact that this firm didn't last long is that their covers were absolutely gorgeous and not too intricate. What you may be able to notice on this specific cover is that Ada Jones in pictured on it, what this tells you is that Spencer and Hylands had taken an early interest in Miss Jones far before she began officially recording in 1904. So, I know that the secret has been out for years now, but Billy Murray DID NOT discover Ada Jones first, no matter what he says, the truth is obvious---it was Hylands and Spencer. 

She was picture on several of Hylands Spencer and Yeager's music, this was not the only one with her on the cover, she was also pictured on their second piece of music ever published "My Sunny Southern Home" by Roger Harding, which can be heard here on a Victor by Harding himself in 1901:

http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/100002593/Pre-matrix_B-3450-Ive_been_down_in_old_Kentucky_

Sad to think that he died the month after this was recorded...

It would be very awkward if Banta was on piano on this record...

(I'm 99% sure that Hylands in on the piano here)

To continue on this talent scout note, here is another amazing collaboration between Hylands, Spencer, and another familiar face in recording:

(thank you ebay!)

this piece of music is a fascinating one, because of all the trails it connects by just what it is alone. Byron Harlan in one the cover, and Hylands Spencer and Yeager published it! It's an amazing thing really. Hylands(or Burt Green) must have been on a gig to accompany Harlan on the piano at some point in 1898 or 1899, as Harlan was becoming the famous tenor from the west at this time. Spencer and Hylands must have heard of him in 1898, and either Harlan came to them or they set out to find him. However this connection happened, it happened just before Harlan became employed at Edison(in fact it was within about two months of time! How Hylands and Spencer were quick!).

Hylands must have had an odd but strong connection with Harlan, as he later ran into him at Columbia less than two years later. It was a bond that Arthur Collins never understood when they recorded together with Hylands on the piano behind them. He must have assumed something like "Well, they're both blond hicks, they already know each other anyhow."

They published a surprising amount of Rag-Tine in their short run, as it pretty much out-weighs the non-Ragtime numbers. Even if the two I have shown here are not Rag-Time whatsoever. 

Here are two more, this time they are Rag-Time:

Some of you really inside sheet music geeks might recognize the composer of the second one listed here. Barney Fagan. He was called to have been a fan of Len Spencer's "Coon songs" since the early 90's, as he had been an expert at it since his beginning in 1889. As Fagan was even more impressed with Spencer's performing ability and unique voice, especially when it came to his own songs, such as the one above and this one:

Here is the cylinder he recorded this on, with young Fred Hylands on the piano, in 1897:

https://ia600506.us.archive.org/5/items/LenSpencer/LenSpencer-MyGalisaHighbornLadyCoonSong.mp3

(Wonderful piano playing Hylands!)

Since Hylands and Spencer were favourites of the publishers and popular composers, them starting a firm of their own only seemed like a flawless idea, as it was very profitable and successful for a short time. Of course, this is where Spencer and the rest of the recording crew really learned ho foolish and immature Hylands could be with his money and be sometimes a bit too committed. This is why it collapsed in 1900. But even with the end of this firm, Spencer continued to be a great talent scout and always find the bets possible people to do certain things he wanted to organize. Hylands was sort of exiled from the talent scout idea after the firm burned to bits in October 1900. The composers still loved them nonetheless, but it was nearly a free range as it was in the 90's, as too many new artists were taking their places at the top of the business. Ehm! Len spencer had Arthur Collins and Bob Roberts to deal with by 1902. Hylands still had Banta, but as we know, not for long. 

I hope you enjoyed this!